1536: Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen
Elizabeth I, was executed on Tower Green for alleged adultery. 1588: The
Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon.

1655: Forces of the English Protectorate, thwarted in their main
aim in the Caribbean of capturing Hispaniola, instead began a successful
invasion of the lightly-defended Spanish possession of Jamaica. Spanish
attempts to retake the island failed and it would be a British colony
for another three centuries.

1802: The French Legion d'Honneur was created by Napoleon.
1898: William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal prime minister, died
at Hawarden Castle in North Wales aged 88. 1900: Britain annexed Tonga,
the Friendly Islands.

1906: The 20km Simplon rail tunnel, between Switzerland and Italy,
was officially opened. 1935: North Wales-born T E Lawrence (Lawrence of
Arabia) died six days after a motorcycle accident in Dorset. 1982:
Italian actress Sophia Loren was jailed for a month for tax evasion.

1984: Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate from 1972, died aged 77.

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